Improvement



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10.121,730 .Patented Dec.12,1871.

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CARLTON WT. ROBERTS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

lMPROVEMENT lN THE STRIKING MECHANISWE OF CLOCKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. lQLTIO, dated December 1'2. 1871 Toa/Ny @Chmn 'it may concern:

3e it known that I, CARLTON W. ROBERTS, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of lllinois, have invented certain Improvements in Automatic qepeating Clocks; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to accompanyin g drawing, which, together with theletters and figures marked thereon, forms part of this specification, and in which- Figure l is a front view of a clock embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side view of same, lookingirom the right, and Fig. 3 is a view of a portion ofthe a rci'or operating the hour-bellhammer, showing the arrangement of the tripping device.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, i will proceed. to describe the same with particularity, making use in so doing of the aforesaid dra-wing.

A is a lever, pivoted at a to the clock-frame, and carrying, at the lower extremity of its longer arm, an are or secant, B, which conforms in outline to a portion of an imaginary circle of which the long arm is a radius. This are is provided 4with twelve laterally-projecting pins, I), which are arranged to engage and operate a bell-hammer, H, when the lever A is swung upon its pivot, so that when the said lever is started from a perpendicular position and swung out to the full extent of the are the pins will cause the hammer to strike twelve. A slide-bar, C, is connected to the long arm of this lever, and is fitted with a projecting' pin, c, which strikes against one of the faces of the spiral cam or snail-wheel D. This cam is carried upon the hour-hand shaft and revolves once in twelve hours, and as there are twelve steps or faces in the spiral a new one is presented each hour. When the cam is in position so that the piu c will strike against the step nearest the center, the lever A will be allowed to drop to aperpendicular position and all the pins will engage the hammer, and as the faces ofthe cam are successively presented the arc will be allowed to return in a less and less degree toward the perpendicular, so that as each face is presented a different hour is struck. The shaft of the wheel E,

which is one of the ordinary striking side-train wheels usually employed in clocks, is fitted in my invention with a quadruple or four-leaved cam, F, which engages a pin, j', upon the long arm of the lever A, and by the action of its curved surantcdatcd December 2, 1871.

faces lifts the said lever four times at each revolution of the wheel E, causing it to strike at each time the hour in the manner above described, and releasing it to fall back each time. The wheel E is furnished with pins c, projecting' laterally from its rim. These` pins are arranged in groups at points about said wheel forty-tive degrees apart, excepting that at one point there is no pin, this being the even hour; the remaining points have, respectively, one, two, and three pins, for the intei-venin g quarters ofthehour. Thesepins engage a second bell-hammer, Hf, and cause it to strike the quarter each time the cams F cause the lever A and its arc to operate the hammer H to strike the hour 5 the stroke of the quarter precedes that oft-he hour b y a slight interval of time. The wheel J, which is the ultimate or last wheel of the striking side train, and which revolves the iiy K, is furnished with a stop-pink), which rests against the notch Z in the stop-bar L when said har is down, which is its normal position. A pin, ym., upon the short arm of the lever A rest-s also in this notch, at the outer end thereof.

Xow the operation is as follows: As the timeside ofthe clock moves on in its regular course, the central or hand-shaft, by means of four pins, actuates a lever of wire such as is usually employed, to raise the bar L and free the wheel J, thus releasing the striking-train. rlhe lever A immediately drops from the point of one of the cams F toward a perpendicular position, which it is allowed to assume in a greater or less degree, according to the hour and the position of the snail l). The succeeding cam F now engages the said lever by the pin j" and lifts it out, causing it to strike the hour, but previous to this, and during the passage from one of the cams F to the next, the pins c upon the wheel E have caused the hammer H to strike the quarter. W hen the stroke of the hour is concluded, or, in other words, when the lever A is swung out to its full extent, the bar L drops the notch l upon the pin Im, and thus falling in the way ofthe pin j upon the wheel J arrests the motion of the entire striking-train until another quarter has elapsed, when the operation is again repeated. Vlt will thus be seen that the wheel E and the four-leaved cam F revolve once in each hour, and that the hour and quarter are struck each quarter of an hour. The hammer H, which strikes the hour, hasits handle h pivoted to a sm all shaft or rod, a, to which is also pivoted a small Weighted lever, o, of a bell-crank shape, the short arm of which stands vertically above the shaft fn and engages the pins b of the arc B as they pass in either direction. The hammerhandle or lever h has its short arm curved around behind the short arm of the lever o, so that when the arc Bis raised outward and the pins I) engage the short arm of the lever o the hammer will be raised by each pin and drops back striking the bell; but when the are moves in the opposite direction the Weighted lever o will alone be operated, acting simply as a ratchet. This construction and arrangement will be more clearly understood, perhaps, by reference to Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing, Which clearly exhibit the same.

It will be seen that, in a clock made after this invention, the hour will always be struck correct- 1y, no matter how much the time-side may be set ahead by turning the hands, because, When the hands are turned, the snail D is also turned to accord therewith. This is a great advantage over the ordinary striking arrangement of clocks, as in such, when the hands are moved forward, the clock inevitably strikes Wrong, unless the striking side is also forwarded, or, in other Words, struck around77 by means of a twitch-wire or other like contrivance.

Having thus fully described the construction 'and operation of my invention, what I claim, and

nished with the arc B and pin b, arranged t6Vv strike the hour at each quarter, substantially as specified.

CARLTON W. ROBERTS.

Witnesses:

J. W. MUNDAY, F. B. MUNDAY. (36) 

